Automobilista 2 October 2022 Development Update

That comes strictly from the number of users. In AMS2 there is just not enough users to cover extensively all ranges.
Anyway I agree more granularity could help AMS2 as well as reducing gains and penalties at least until the MP is popular enough.
Most importantly though I find that in PC2/AMS2 there is really no Safety Ranking which should be something preventing people from racing faster and better cars in MP.
In AMS2 it is easy to farm SR and anyway it does not prevent the use of more advanced rides

 

Multiplayer network and server models


Edit: p2p used by SMS/Reiza may be tweaked for better performance, however the underlying issues of the architecture are always going to be present if compared to server-client.

In summary:

• dedicated-servers (server-client) is good for low latency and many players, but it is costly to keep
• p2p is cheap to keep, but it is has inherently worse latency than server-client

For a sim racing game, where latency is very important, the server-client architecture would be the best choice, while peer-to-peer would be more common for card games and the likes where high latency is not game breaking at all.

I'm by no means a network especialist and only have surface-level knowledge on the matter. I've not studied this subject in years, the last time I did was back in my computer science classes at university. So I might be well outdated on concepts. For sure technology evolves and p2p today is not absolutely terrible (proof of that is when everyone in the lobby has very stable and fast internet connections - this usually leads to fine MP session in AMS2), but the moment someone with bad latency compared to the rest joins the lobby, everyone suffers.

 

Helmet Livery Customization didn´t quite make it in time for V1.4.1 release, but it´s coming together now - by the next update users should be able to customize helmets just as is currently possible with vehicle liveries.
Will this include driver and Pit crew suit liveries matching the car liveries?

 

Ok so content wise I'm as happy as can be...

Adding the historic Spa to the content list is like adding the Nordschleife, every car in the sim gets a test day... The upcoming GTP class of cars will be fun and we get a loud one to start with... More low downforce variants is more than welcome as are the oval specific variants... The new radar makes the already obsolete (thanks to simhub) proximity markers obsolete without 3rd party apps... The helmets and new shaders will be fun once we get info on how they work... The updated AI should make for better oval races... And more cars with the AMDM is really going to add to the immersion of the cars that get it, looking forwards to how these new force related issues work...

So for all these additions and improvements it's a big kudos from me...

However...

This line has rightfully got the feedback from the community in this thread that it deserves...

Whilst some have questioned if MP is even a focus considering the attention to the AI over the past year, others have rightfully stated that for AMS2 to get the attention from the sim racing community at large that it deserves after the physics improvements of the last year MP needs huge upgrades to make league racing a thing...

Strong online performance is key to any sim racing titles longevity or attention... Especially with the attention to detail and how hard a majority of the cars are to drive and then get that extra second or extra tenth in...

I have my concerns on many fronts, even with the attention to detail on AI over the past year there's a lot of work to be done on that side still... So I don't agree that the focus is on SP not MP as both experiences are far from polished... The single player experience still needs a lot of work to compete as a single player title... The AI is far too inconsistent between tracks and there's no career mode out of the box... Sometimes they act like they've got much lower final drives or can only hit 75% of the throttle because the AI isn't expecting that car at that track... And far too often they don't drive natural lines and/or use the dirt and drag it on track...

This title is in this weird limbo of not polished on anything but the on track experience between you and the car... The fact that this is the case with the madness engine gives me hope that Reiza can work their magic in other areas of the title... Anything is possible if they managed that... Yet it is concerning that MP wasn't given some attention right now...

To my mind, and I could be out of line because I haven't been a competitive online racer for a few years, but just looking around at what sites are doing it seems this is planning time for 2023 racing league seasons and any improvements to stability and configurations for the MP side would of been welcomed right now and thus got AMS2 more spotlight in at least the first half of 2023...

I guess we can only hope that the MP improvements are meaningful enough for AMS2 to be get that spotlight and be welcomed by racing leagues in the 2nd half of 2023...

 

Another sim I also ride is iracing. Less than on AMS2 but I spend time there too. And yet I must have done 5 or 6 multiplayer races since 2020 (the moment I got bored), all the rest of the time, it's AI. All week training on the same track and doing and redoing races to raise the "rating", I had had enough. I prefer to change circuits every day, change the weather and the time to my liking and above all be able to drive the car I want and not the one with the bop. It depends on the people and their cycles or courses in simulation but the multi is behind me

 

I´d be sad to see the p2p system go as not everyone has the resources to run a dedi server and it´s nice to be able to setup a race to your liking within seconds. It´s a unique selling point together with the fill with AI option.

Perhaps in the future there could be a separate dedi server MP option only for official ranked servers but right now with a small player base it´s better to have the P2p for on the fly racing.

 

Do we know if a “bigger” game uses P2P or has a mix of both systems?

 

It's not that simple. Some level of P2P communications is necessary in racing games, otherwise contacts between cars will be too spurious to reliably race side-by-side due to the server round trip delay. Compare RaceRoom's net code, which uses P2P connections between drivers, and iRacing, which uses client-side prediction code to judge contacts, to see how much of a difference it makes.

 

What is Peer-to-Peer Gaming, and How Does it Work? - VGKAMI

Some big ones in that list.

 

No real sim racing titles on that list... F1 2021 is there, but we are seeing leagues leave that looking for a less buggy experience even after 2022 has had some time to fix it leagues are still going elsewhere... A couple of shooters, but they can handle lower latency than sim racing titles... Only the bullets move fast...

P2P is ok for small grids as long as no one has a bad connection... If you want to recreate any race on the road course of Daytona or any of the ovals or multiclass racing it's basically a non-starter...

Maybe Reiza has something revolutionary in it's back pocket with P2P... Maybe they had hoped that P2P would advance as a technology and they can just adopt whatever the new fixes are... Added with an absolute need to hope that if someone can afford to purchase AMS2 that their country would have top line internet speeds... Living in Australia that ain't the case, I can only imagine what that's like globally...

P2P in it's current state reminds me of rF1 and earlier titles when someone had a ping over 350... Cars warp a lot and the prediction is still very terrible... Get a small group of people with decent pings and you'll still get a handful of warps in a 30 minute race...

And you could always run your own server in rF1 from your PC, which is basically what P2P is now... So any move to a dedicated server based system will not really effect the way the P2P happy crowd go about their racing... From my experiences it's no better than over a decade ago on your own server running from the same machine as you race on... Good for a group of local friends... Not good if you want recreate a race from racing history with people from different countries...

And as stated above, some elements of P2P are still needed so the whole system won't be removed to add dedicated servers...

 

So, after thrashing the Formula Classic Gen 1 around 1970 Spa at 400kph, I had an idea.

For classic Spa and Le M... I mean, "non-specific low downforce track", could we have the super speedway spec of CART cars with a symmetric setup? Fully trimmed out, the road course spec was doing 220+mph, but I'm curious what it could do with the little wings.

 

Anyone know what was meant by this and where it might show up?

"Some further Quality-of-Life improvements arriving include improved support for Logitech, Fanatec & Simucube wheels"

 

APIs used in the background for compatibility or features specific to those wheels (such as Logitech TrueForce). You'll see more profiles, but most of it is behind the scenes.

 

With iRacing announcing their upcoming BMW M Hybrid LMDh and rF2 their Vanwall LMH, both coming soon, it looks like the race for hypercars has already started. Hopefully Reiza already has plans to add to AMS2 some of these new hypercars already in the works.

 

Going for the least "prestige" brands must be a good strategy to get in some classes, for example LMP1 too, I would love to see the Ginetta G60 LMP1 and some others.

 

I wish to aim for some „most prestige“ brands like FERRARI and sell it separately via dlc to catch the costs.
( me speaking not about modern Hypercars, but more like awesome historical stuff and a bit outdated modern classes like 2020 gt3.)

 

I'm sure Glickenhaus would love to work with Reiza to bring their SCG 007 to AMS2, and if United Racing Design can afford the official license surely Reiza can as-well. We also already have a bunch of Ginettas so they much have a good relationship.

 

As a neutral guy not being a fan of any brand, the only 'prestige' brand there is is Ferrari.

Mercedes and Red Bull and their drivers can win infinite F1 world titles, I'd bet they would still not be perceived by the public at large with the same prestige as we see Ferrari.

Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Nissan, Honda, etc, I guess the general public like myself see them as cool cars and stuff, but still... not a Ferrari.

So if there is one brand that every sim racing game should have, I definitely would say Ferrari.

 

Yeah, the 'smaller' teams certainly would be more open and approachable, the licenses also maybe a bit less expensive. The whole licensing stuff is a huge issue, super expensive and manufacturers are quite strict, especially the bigger ones, they don't want to see certain things. Would be nice if there could be a different and easier process to get some cars in the future.

iRacing announcing the M Hybrid V8 is quite a move tbf. The growing competition keeps them on their toes ^^